The Bottom Line: It's Not Dark Yet, But It's Getting There

The way that America’s political situation is playing out right now has me perplexed, at my own “side” most of all. Not that the president and his ruling party would slam us with more intrusive laws, gun control, financial restrictions, domestic spying, illegal wars, and increased taxes as soon as his election was won, that is. No, that was no surprise to me. Who the hell among us didn't see this anti-liberty agenda coming as soon as he was safely re-elected? Bottom line: If you honestly didn’t see this coming, then you need to develop a better sense of situational awareness[6].

So what do I make of Obama’s Great Repression agenda[7]? This short list is what I see happening and what to do about it. Take it for what it’s worth to you.

As things stand today, I'd rather have an old, heavily used bolt action rifle and a half box of crusty ammo for it stashed away that the feds/local cops/private databases have no record of than a brand new M1A and cases of ammo for it stacked to the ceiling if it came via an FFL licensee that has all my information on an ATF Form 4473[8]. A dinged and scratched “store brand” pump action 12 gauge under the bed that was bought at a garage sale years ago for cash might not impress the guys at the range club with their fancy Benelli trap guns, but it is still quite serviceable and well worth having these days, though, isn’t it? I sure think so. A clunky old four-inch wheel gun is seen as obsolete by some, but it'll still put a hunk of anywhere you want it with a little practice. And bonus points if you bought it from some friend of a friend for cash. Bottom line: Stop looking at firearms as precious collectables or recreational adult toys and look at them as tools for survival and liberty maintenance, which is what they truly are. An old, ugly, banged up, but still serviceable rifle, handgun, or shotgun that came without any “imperial entanglements”[9] attached to it is worth a closet full of newer and better stuff in my humble opinion.

All the boasting, bragging, and strutting many of us did on social media websites about our cool new AR-15 or tricked-out Glock seems kind of ill advised now in hindsight, doesn’t it? Especially when we knew or should have known all along that the feds routinely monitor social media websites[10] for just such information about us. An anti-gun newspaper in New York recently published the names and addresses[11] of all state-licensed handgun owners in their readership area. And unsurprisingly, the people named were incensed at this invasion of their privacy. I know I would be myself. But I wonder how many of us gun owners that are now outraged on their behalf have ourselves gone on social media sites like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and others and posted blog entries, pictures, and videos that in effect “outed” ourselves to the whole world? Bottom line: See the irony here?

Guns aren’t the only things to consider for bolstering your home security. Instead of un-assing $1,000+ for a new Sig or Ruger, consider obtaining some bags of mixed silver coins instead. It will be vastly simpler to buy food, medicine, new tires, or whatever else you may need in the future with silver coins from someone willing to trade but who isn’t interested in taking piles of worthless government-issued paper or in doing e-commerce that can be traced. Value-for-value voluntary transactions build trust between people and can lead to further mutually beneficial transactions down the road. Bottom line: Start thinking about this situation that we’re in as a serious issue of long term personal/family survival and not as a temporary condition to be put up with until it blows over. I have a strong suspicion that this time it isn’t blowing over.

History, it has been said, doesn’t repeat, but sometimes it rhymes. I believe this is true. For example, the first armed rebellion that occurred in America post-independence was the so-called Shay’s Rebellion[12] in Massachusetts in 1787. What would cause George Washington’s ex-soldiers and small landowners to take up arms and fight their own state government so soon after securing independence? Hint: It was their inability to pay their property taxes and so having their homes and farms seized for non-payment. This bit of history is something we should all take note of. If things get really bad, and which I have every expectation that they will, I’d rather be living in a junky old motor home or a tumbledown shack than in a suburban McMansion even if I owned it free and clear but that I can’t pay the taxes on and so is always on the cusp of a tax foreclosure. I recommend that everyone look up Shay’s Rebellion and read about it.[13] Bottom line: “Home security” takes many forms.

An acre or three out in the woods somewhere with your own water and fuel supply (i.e., trees) can still be had relatively cheap, and you can pay the taxes on it by selling off some timber or firewood you harvested, selling fruit, vegetables, or hay that you’ve grown, or even by picking up deposit soda and beer cans on the side of the road if need be. No matter how bad things get for us in the near term, local governments are still going to demand property tax payments, and for the foreseeable future, they’ll have the means to get them, too. (At least until we abolish them all, but I digress.) Bottom line: Your home should be more than just the dwelling you live inside. It should provide for you as well.

Learn what an actual education is and what it can do for you. As things are going now, I’d rather have my kids know how to weld, learn basic carpentry, learn how to type, do nails/hair styling, speak/write Spanish or Chinese, or gain other practical skills or knowledge by whatever means are available than I would have them go to an Ivy League college for four years. Seriously. Being able to scan a balance sheet and understand it, or knowing how to can fruit, or grow hay seems way more useful these days than anything they would likely learn listening to university professors lecture at them all day. Bottom line: Knowing how to do things is preferable to just knowing facts and theories.

“The first time someone shows you who they [really] are,” an American poet[14] once said, “believe them.” Obama and his ilk have stopped being ciphers and have shown us all who they are and what they intend to do, and we should all believe them. It has been pretty apparent for a while now how astonishingly fast our liberty and well-being can be taken away. The burner under this pot of boiling frogs we call America has now been moved from “simmer” to “hot,” so be advised. Bottom line: Don’t depend on government or corporate mass media for anything but basic information or data. (And be skeptical of that too.) Learn to figure things out for yourself.[15]

Maybe we can halt or even roll back this onslaught against our liberties and well-being, or maybe we can’t. But either way, let’s not kid ourselves any more, eh? For those of you inclined toward religious belief, remember that Bible verse[16] warning against “putting your faith in princes”? That is still very good advice. The Republican Party, the NRA, Oath Keepers, Alex Jones, Anonymous, Judge Napolitano, Ron Paul and all the rest of the marginalized and despised mineshaft canaries still left couldn’t rouse us, and they can’t save us either. And sad to say as goofy and weird as some of the above-mentioned are, they all turned out to be right. (I have a sick feeling that one after another, they’re all going to go silent, be intimidated into towing the party line, or just disappear.) Bottom line: What’s over is over. Don’t wallow in your own despair. Instead, organize and prepare.

We all need to get cracking if we want to survive what’s coming our way, and the chances for success will be much higher if we all have a plan. Good fortune, it is said, favors the prepared. A word to the wise: Don’t wait until you’re standing on the edge of a trench waiting your turn for a DHS-supplied .40 caliber pistol shot[17] to the back of the head.

Ken Kraska is a guy who lives in Michigan. He is a businessman who has been earning his own way in life from age 17 onward and who has a strong dislike of taxes, regulations, and bureaucracy. He loves being free more than he likes talking about being free which often puts him at odds with people that say they agree with his views.